Daily Yellowstone journal., 1887-05-27
LIFE ON H RANGE.
An Ex-Cowboy Gives = Little Of His Ex-
p~erience-On . Round Up.

AN Ex-&oNuoy 0isce W W. ~
p~erience-On . Round Up.
.'Queer place for a cowboy isn't its"
grinned a rosy faced Washington market
butcher the other day as he sliced off a
big hunk Of round for a scrawny work
ing woman who needed no sign to an
nounce the fact that she kept a boarding
house, and at the same time tried to
carry ON a conversation with a reporter.
"No, I'm no longer a tenderfoot," he
observed, as he gave an extra tough
chicken a slap and a punch, and evened
off the top of the barrel, ''but l believe
I am as thorough a cowboy, ! mean in
experience, as any ranchman on the
plains. l followed the trail for $500
miles through Texas, New Mexico, Colo
RADIO. Wyoming and Montana, and dur
ing that journey l learned what 1t was to
60 without kid gloves and porter house
steak, and to lasso and brand the most
o~bstreperous steer"
by the way, how do you brand cat
tlel' the reporter asked.
"Well, l think / can give you a little
something ON that" said the ex-cowboy
settling himself into an empty crate. II
was at that twice a year for three years.
| 1t Is the calves hat are branded and not
full grown cattle, and for this purpose
there are two round ups each year, one
in the spring and another in the fall.
"A round up is carried on on some
what of a cooperative plan by the diff
ferent cattle companies, and each outfit
details a number of men for this work,
and each body Of men is supposed to take
in q section of country at least 100 miles
in extent.
People who imagine that a~cowboy's
life is a free and easy life are correct as
to its being free, but the easy part I'd
like to see. When a party Of fifteen Of
III would start on a round up we took a
wagon to carry u provender, but we
had to camp on the ground in blankets.
Each man had ten horses to care for. as
riding after cattle is the hardest kind Of
work on a mustang, and SO there must
be relays.
.'Opr food consisted of bread, bacon
and c0ffee. and the cook called us at 3 in
the morning to eat our breakfast, and
then into the saddle we went for a hard
days work. Sometimes we were in rain
storms for three days at a time with no
shelter. and then the cattle would drift
backward. You car never get a herd Of
cattle to make Roadway against either
rain or wind.
I'VE always started at daybreak on
tba trail and ~ tnnG half m tn,,r 20 arat
the cattle punched up and in line. The
'punchers' are called pointers, flank
and .drags.' The cattle move ahead, led
by a big steer, who seems to take the po-
sition by right of superior size, strength
and length of horns. II the herd does
not want water it moves slowly, but il
the cattle are thirsty they mov twice as
fast and a smell water at least fourteen
miles away. When in search of water,
a herd Of $500 cattle will string out at
least four miles.
when the water is reached. the cat
tie, with a peculiar instinct, lay down
for at least half an hour, and then some
of the boys would dine while the others
remained ON guard. The cattle, after
drinking, would Craze a while, then move
forward until shutdown. when they were
rounded up in a bunch for the night.
"At night the greatest care must be
exercised to keep them from stampeding.
The fight of a bird over the herd will
stampede them at night, and If they get
to running tfen God help horses and
men. The noise of their hoofs flying
over the ground is like thunder. They
run till they mill or get to running in a
circle; then they stop and lay down.
Some of these journeys were simply
frightful. During one round up in June
last, when passing through Rock Creek
pass in Bonita Canyon, our cattle were
nearly lost in a nov storm. New
York Star Interview.